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Review: Motorola Signature - More prestige

It has a slim design, but not only that. Signature is a completely new flagship family with a particular focus on better cameras.

Published 2 April 2026 - 10:43

Last year, there was a perhaps short-lived trend to release thin mobiles. Motorola was one of several manufacturers that did so. These phones were spectacularly thin, yet still delivered relatively well in both battery life and power. The new Motorola Signature carries some of those features but takes further steps and adds significantly with flagship features.

Pushes the boundaries in colour and material

Expressive materials and colour choices have become something of Motorola's hallmark in recent years, especially through their collaboration with the colour experts at Pantone. Motorola releases phones in the colour of the year every year and is also noticeably generous in going outside the box when it comes to colour choices beyond that. It seems to have become a successful concept, as it is becoming increasingly common for other manufacturers to dare to step outside the established white, grey, black. A pity, therefore, that this year's colour from Pantone was just white, but Motorola took that challenge and put Swarovski crystals on the mobile, another of their collaborations, besides Pantone then.

My test sample of the Motorola Signature is noticeably thin in the hand with a matte olive green back and camera assembly that is enclosed in metal and shines in green, sometimes more towards gold depending on the light around. The frame around the phone is aluminium and it feels like a quality build. In terms of performance, the phone is clearly in the flagship class even if it does not use the absolute most powerful chip. Perhaps most welcome in this context is how the performance here not only meets today's needs and makes the phone fast today but also makes the phone future-proof. For the first time, Motorola offers up to seven years of system updates and it is very welcome as it so clearly extends the phone's lifespan.

Better cameras

Motorola has in its previous prestige models offered much of what Signature provides. Aluminium frame instead of plastic frame, good performance and durability are in that way nothing new. Nor, as mentioned, are expressive materials and colour choices, or thin design, where Motorola was already on board last year. The most obvious upgrade in Signature is the cameras. It is also a clear priority from Motorola's side and even if they do not reach and are the absolute best mobile camera, it can keep pace with, for example, Iphone and Samsung. The pictures turn out well even in poorer light, we get periscope zoom that provides fine details up to ten times zoom. Environmental pictures I take get both fine and natural colour reproduction and depth, possibly the colours may fail a little when it comes to pictures in the dark. When I zoom in after nightfall, it is also noticeable that the phone clearly sees itself defeated and has difficulties with exposure and colours. Overall, however, the image quality is good.

Motorola's interface is basically quite close to Google's, as they use, for example, Google Photos as an image gallery and otherwise stick a lot to Google's existing apps instead of making their own equivalents. However, Motorola adds a lot of other apps, from partners and others. Just like all other manufacturers, the adaptations recently are much about AI. Motorola released its Moto AI about a year ago. At that time, the basis was to summarise app notifications, remember, transcribe meetings and summarise. Since then, not much more has happened. Motorola's AI is a patchwork of collaborations with, for example, Facebook and Instagram owner Meta to Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, and most of the AI services are cloud-based, so they require you to have a connection. There is no Swedish language support, but some understanding anyway, so when I ask something in Swedish, the phone answers in English. Recording and summarising a meeting in Swedish works anyway. The summary of app notifications is limited to just a few apps, so it provides very little actual benefit, but I notice at least that the AI remembers and learns. When I talk about places and my preferences for food, suggestions for lunch are adapted to that when I later ask for food tips. In addition to the own solutions with partners, you also have Google's Gemini as in other Android mobiles. If I hold the AI button on the left side of the phone, I come to Moto AI, and if I hold the power button on the other side, I come to Google Gemini. Overall, Motorola's AI gives a slightly fragmented impression, and it can be difficult to know where memories, recordings, notes and other things actually are so I can find them again.

Screen and battery life

Returning to some more of the basic functions, we need to mention the screen. It supports what is known as always on display, so you can see notifications, time, and so on even when the screen is locked and in standby mode. And the screen is, of course, an OLED screen with good brightness and colour reproduction. Motorola recently joined the trend of thin mobiles with the Edge 70, and the Motorola Signature is only a millimetre thicker, 6.99 millimetres instead of 5.99 millimetres. Despite the thinness, the battery life is acceptable. It's not a battery with really high capacity that we've started to see in some flagship mobiles in the past year, but more a battery with normal capacity. It's enough to power the phone all day, without any problems.

Questions and answers

What comes with the package?

Motorola has some offers so you can get accessories like a watch and headphones included, but in the actual Motorola Signature package, there is a USB cable, but no charger, and a case with a magnetic ring for wireless charging. True to form, Motorola also lets the packaging be drenched in perfume to contribute to the unboxing experience.

What is Signature Club?

When we test, it is not yet available, but it is supposed to be some kind of personal VIP service included in the purchase.

What materials and colours?

Signature comes in olive green like the one I tested or grey. The back is matte and fabric-like in feel with an aluminium frame around it.

An alternative

Reasonable alternatives are, for example, Oneplus 15R with the same system chip, or its sister model Oneplus 15 with more camera focus and top performance. Both of these are significantly cheaper than Motorola Signature, in the 15R case almost half the price.

Camera example

Signature is a clear priority on the cameras for Motorola. It provides good zoom capabilities up to ten times magnification, and it is in poorer light and more extreme situations that it becomes apparent that it does not reach the same quality as the very best.

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